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Committee advances amendments to S.2 to consolidate behavioral health agencies; final vote delayed by time constraints
Summary
Committee debated S.2, which would create a Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities by consolidating three agencies. Two committee amendments requiring annual accountability reporting and a mandated review of duplicative services through 2028 passed; the committee did not complete a final vote before a scheduled recess.
Members of the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee debated S.2, a Senate-sponsored bill to create a Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities by consolidating three existing agencies: the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (to be renamed the Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities), the Department of Mental Health (to be renamed the Office of Mental Health), and the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (to be renamed the Office of Substance Use Services).
Representative Heath Sessions, speaking for the bill's sponsors, described S.2 as a narrower follow-up to a larger reorganization proposal that did not pass last year. "This is this year's effort... to bring all of those folks all under 1 roof, in this new department of behavioral health and developmental disabilities,"…
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